Hand-bag fastener.



H. DIFFANY.

HAND BAG FASTENER. APPLICATION FILED 05c. 18, I913.

Patented June 15, 1915.

-I/VI/EA/T0l? Differ my WITNESSES Henry ATTORNEYS THE NORRIS PETERS C0,, PH01U-LITHQ, WASHINGTUN, D. C.

HENRY DIFYFAYNY, or NEWARK, nnwannsnm V HAND-BAG FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 15, 1915.

Application filed December 18, 1913. Serial No. 807,431.

To all whom/it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY Dirrany, 'acitizen of the United States, and a resident vide an auxiliary lock to maintain a hand.

bag in closed position and to conceal the primary lock thereof; to Provide means requiring forceful displacement to gain access to the primary lock; andto provide a protective misleading structure to invite attack thereon and to thereby avert attack on the primary look.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a closure frame designed for a hand bag, having applied thereto a protectivelock position.

constructed and arranged in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same; Fig. 3 is a cross-section taken on the line 33 in Fig. 2; Fig. 4: is a perspective view, showing the frame in the bag-opened position; Fig. 5 is a crosssection taken on the line 55 in Fig. 2.

The hinged side frames 10 and 11 and the spring catches 12 with which said frames are provided, are of conventional form and structure. The lock formed by said frames and the catches 12 is very convenient, the action of the catches in springing past and falling behind each other, affording simple and easy means of opening by pressing the thumb and finger upon the same to force them past each other into the disengaging Difficulty, however, has arisen from the fact that the operation of the look, while convenient forv the owner, is also convenient to pick-pockets or thieves. devices have been employed to augment the lock formed by the catches 12, 12. These devices, in avoiding complication, have been equally simple of manipulation for the thief, and have afforded little, if any, protection to the person carrying the bag.

Primarily, the object of the present device is to confuse or deceive the thief, by covering the catches 12 with a hollow cap 13, which is provided with an arm 14 sufficiently long to extend away from the catches 12, to be there pivoted by a pin 15. The

Many I length of the arm 14 is such as to permit thecap 13 to settle over the catches 12, when engaged, without striking upon said catches.

The cap 13 is preferably turret-shaped, in imitation of the conventional pedestal of the conventional slide latch provided for looks of this character. To further aid in this mlsconception, a raised portion 16 is provided, shaped to imitate in appearance the slide button of a latch of the character mentioned.

To hold the cap 13 in closed position covering the latches 12, I provide pins '17, which are fixedly mounted on the side frames 10 and 11, adjacent the latches 12,

12. To engage and pass over said pins, I contract the lower edges 18 and 19 of said cap, which edges pass under said pins, to be thereafter held in position thereby.

With a protective lock thus constructed and installed on a bag having side frames 10 and 11, it will be found necessary, be-

fore the catches 12, 12 may be tampered with, to raise the cap 13. The grip of the lower edges 18 and 19 with the pins 17, 17 is such as to require that the frame or bag be held while the cap 13 is pulled from en gagement with the pins 17. Ordinarily, the force required to disengage the cap 13 from the pins 17 is such as would lift the bag to which the frame is applied.

It will also be observed that a thief or pick-pocket would ordinarily be deceived by the appearance of the cap 13, and be misled into first endeavoring to slide the raised portion 16 in the manner followed when using a slide latch of which the cap 13 is imitative.

While I have herein described the cap 13 as solid in appearance, the design having for its purpose the imitation of the usual slide latch, I do not wish to be confined to such, as the construction may be largely varied to form many diiferent types or designs. In each, however, the concealing of the catches 12 is the dominant characteristic.

While I have herein described the cap as being provided with an arm such as indicated by the numeral 14, I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the use of such. It is evident that the cap may be attached on the frame by being hinged, by a chain, by a slide; and by various means not here mentioned, all of Which are considered said cap having pendant relatively conby me as equivalents of the said arm and; tracted sides adapted to pass over and enpivot. gage said projecting members.

I claim V In testimony whereof I have signed my 15 5 In combination, a plurality of side frames name to this specification in the presence having a lock provided With tWo upstandr of two subscribing Witnesses. ing spring-yielding members adapted to HENRY DIFFANY pass andengage, each other; a pluralityof I 1 projecting members extending from the Witnesses:

1 sides of said frames; and a top covered cap E. F.- MURARDO,

adapted to infold said upstanding members, P ILIP D. R LLHAUS.

Copies of this natent may be obtained-tor, five. cents each, by addressing-the Commissioner of Batents.

Washington, D. 0.? t 

